Town hall meeting set regarding zoning ordinance

Rod Evans

Published 10:49 am, Friday, October 2, 2015

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Officials and volunteers with the Sugar Land Votes organization at the September 21 signing event that launched the petition drive at the University Branch Library. The group holds a town hall meeting and petition drive on October 11. less

Officials and volunteers with the Sugar Land Votes organization at the September 21 signing event that launched the petition drive at the University Branch Library. The group holds a town hall meeting and ... more

Town hall meeting set regarding zoning ordinance

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The group behind the effort to rescind a city of Sugar Land ordinance they believe encourages developers to build mixed-use, high-density developments has scheduled a town hall meeting and petition signing event on October 11.

Members of the grass roots Sugar Land Votes organization hosts the town hall meeting beginning at 1 p.m. at the TE Harman Community Center (226 Matlage Way) in Sugar Land to present information and train its volunteers who are charged with securing signatures for the petition to rescind Ordinance 2014. The event will include a series of presentations beginning at 1 p.m. and held every half hour thereafter before concluding at 3 p.m. Sugar Land Votes spokesman Diana Miller says each presentation will begin with a series of slides showing some of the most relevant document changes from the past Development Code to the recently approved Development Code contained in Ordinance 2014.

At issue is a plan by Newland Communities to build a mixed-use project at University Blvd. and U.S. 59 that would include a 900-unit apartment complex. Miller said the presentation will also provide information on the current Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 6, which she says states that “no more than 200 units at any one location” is permissible.

“This started when a resident of the Telfair community attended a (Sugar Land) Planning and Zoning Committee meeting on June 23rd where the 900-unit conceptual plan was presented,” Miller said. “They brought back information from that meeting to the residents. We later saw that the development part of the plan (Development Code) had been changed.”

Miller said the group organized to begin a petition drive to secure the 2,032 signatures required to rescind the new ordinance based chiefly on the contention that the new development code is a new ordinance that constitutes “initial zoning,” which makes it subject to the petition and referendum process.

“The new urban zoning they added is new zoning, so we could have a legal argument that it is initial zoning under state law. Our attorney said we have a pretty good argument and should take it to court to see how it works out,” Miller.

The city acknowledged receipt of a copy of the petition on September 23, but disputes the claim that the new Development Code qualifies as initial zoning. City of Sugar Land spokesman Doug Adolph said zoning regulations included in Ordinance 2014 cannot be repealed by petition or referendum and can only be repealed in their entirety by charter election.

“Their interpretation of the state statute is wrong and serves only to misinform the public. Ordinance 2014 did not adopt initial zoning. Initial zoning in Sugar Land was adopted by Ordinance No. 77, approved on January 19, 1965,” Adolph said.

Adolph said the city is seeking an outside legal opinion to determine if the petition referendum process would cause other chapters of Sugar Land’s Development Code to be removed if Ordinance No. 2014 is repealed, including sign regulations and design standards.

The group has 46 days from the initiation of the petition, which began on September 21, to submit the signatures, meaning all signatures must be filed with the city by November 6.

The current campaign follows previous efforts by Sugar Land residents to fight apartment development, but city officials say the new development code does not call for high-density developments, but rather creates parameters for regulating housing projects that are dense in nature.

Meanwhile, Miller said if the group should reach its petition goal at the October 11 meeting, it would first seek to negotiate with city officials in an attempt to get the city to repeal the new development code before officially submitting the petition, which could ultimately result in the ordinance being put on the ballot for a public vote.